Has anyone else experienced this?

apple85

Hi

has anyone else experienced the below

In 2019 I had my most recent face to face assessment of the esa - it took 2-3 months for the decision letter to come through (dated about 4 days before I received the letter) - I had moved from wrag back to support group. 

However I noticed the start date of the new support award was the date of the face to face assessment  2-3 months before the supposed decision date and the increased wrag to support wouldn’t start being paid into my bank account until about 1 1/2 months after the date of the award letter.

considering the reassessment letter is sent out about 2 months before the end of your current award - I have essentially had my current 18 month award shaved down to a 11-14 month award!!! (I don’t know about you but pre 2018 all of my awards were a minimum of 2-3 years and now I’m lucky to get over 12 months - even though my disabilities have not/will not improve and I’ve got some several new debilitating conditions to boot)  

The exact same thing happened to my dla to pip award - months and money shaved off my new award. 

Several hundred out of pocket but more importantly less time in between the stress and panicking of the next reassessment and my mental health taking a big hit from lack of healing time between reassessments


ironically the previous reassessment I got moved from support group of 10+ years to wrag- the decision letter I got literally 3 days after the face to face date and the new decreased wrag payment started 1 week after that decision letter was dated!!!

poppy123456

HI,

Usually for the work capability assessment the award is from the date of the decision and not from the date the assessment took place. Decision timescales vary massively, depending on where you are in the country and the backlog in your area.

Timescales for the length of time you're placed into a group are nothing more than just a guide, you can be reassessed anytime from 3 months. This is the reason why work capability assessment decision letters never state a timescale, they will of course tell you if you ring DWP but even then it's just a guide. I've been claiming ESA in the Support Group since 2012/13 and have had 4 assessments since then, 2 face to face and 2 paper based, my most recent (March 2020) was paper based. Again the letter didn't state a timescale. I never ring them because i couldn't deal with the stress, i put it as far back in my mind as possible until the next one drops through the letter box.

I've no idea why your Support Group to WRAG decrease was from a week after the decision letter was dated, that really makes no sense.

The reason why you don't receive any backdated money when transfering from DLA to PIP is because you were previously claiming DLA and PIP has replaced that. Even if it's a higher award than you had with DLA, there's no backdated money. If your conditions had changed when you were claiming DLA then reporting a worsening of condition to start the PIP process of at an earlier date would be what you should have done. If you didn't do that, then the only person to miss out is yourself.

Same as PIP reviews, if your award is higher,  then it's from the date the decision is made.

If you report changes for a worsening of condition for PIP and are awarded a higher rate then it's backdated to the date you reported the changes.

janer1967

HI and welcome to the community glad to have you on board. Poppy has explained the answer to your query so I just wanted to say hi